I went to meet a friend for lunch the other day. She was sharing that there are days where she is just not feeling very motivated to get things done. I told her that this happens to everyone once in a while. Does this sound like you too? It can be even more challenging around the holidays when you have a lot of additional things to get done. You may also be dealing with a stressful event or you are overwhelmed and it can paralyze you from doing anything. You look around for something that will be less taxing to your brain like social media, a favorite TV show or even laundry! You don’t intend to spend more than a half hour on these things, but before you know it, the time has flown by.
Although distractions may be the symptom, the root cause is usually something else. Here are some of the root causes that I have seen pretty consistently that may be causing a lack of motivation.
- You are doing something for the first time. Anytime that you have to do something for the first time, there is a lack of confidence that may occur. Where do you start? Do you need help from someone else? Are you afraid that you will fail at it? Look at what is causing you to hesitate and hold you back. Is it a real reason or is it an excuse to keep you safe and prevent you from failing? Reach out and get help. Find someone who has done it before and take one small step each day to move forward. Remember that you have had other “firsts” in your life and you figured out how to move forward. Use those successes as motivation to help you now.
- You have started it, but you can’t seem to get it right. You are putting too much pressure on yourself and you need a break. Sometimes the best thing to do is to step back and walk away from what you are trying to do for a little while. Maybe there is an internal block preventing you from completing what you are working on. Giving yourself time away from it may help you clear your head and provide a new perspective. Slowing down and thinking about things can sometimes be the best thing to help you speed up and get more done.
- You just don’t want to do it. It isn’t that you can’t or that you don’t know how. You just don’t want to do it. Have you ever found yourself stalling to avoid doing what you need to do? Stay out of the trap of just finding things to keep busy or distracted. What you need to do isn’t going away, so understand why you don’t want to do it. You may find that if you shift your thinking about what you need to do, it can propel you into moving forward. Motivate yourself to get it done with a reward for completion, set up an artificial deadline or find an accountability partner to check in with you on your progress.
There are generally underlying reasons why you are impacted by a lack of motivation. Doing the work to understand those reasons is hard, but it will make it easier the next time you get stuck. Just remember that this has happened to you before and you have always figured out a way to move forward. Leverage the learning and the wins that you have from the past to help motivate you forward today.